The Millennium Is For Missions

by Rev. Vernon Pollema

You and I live during the time of missions, in the days
of salvation. I’m sure we’re all aware of the missions mandate given
by our Lord just before He ascended to His Father and our Father in
heaven. To refresh our memories: “And Jesus came and spake unto them
saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28:18-20). “But ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

We see the results of obeying this command throughout
the book that is appropriately entitled, The Acts of the Apostles: In
response to Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost: “Then they that
gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). Only a short time
later, after Peter had performed the miracle of healing the lame man and
used the occasion to preach Christ, we read: “. . . many of them
which heard the word believed: and the number of the men was about five
thousand” (Acts 4:4).

The gospel is on the move! The apostle Paul becomes God’s
chosen missionary to the Gentiles. We read in Acts 13:46,47: “Then
Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the Word of
God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put if from you,
and judge (condemn) yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we
turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have
set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for
salvation unto the ends of the earth.”

Jesus himself, while yet on earth, had given a preview
of what the gospel would accomplish. The fourth chapter of the gospel of
John tells us about our Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at
the well. Jesus asks her for a drink of water, using that as a way to
introduce the subject of living water which only He could give. Jesus
amazes this woman in several ways: by speaking with her, a Samaritan; by
knowing all about her sinful past; by revealing to her the way of
salvation. The woman, in turn, is so filled with joy that she cannot
contain herself, and runs back to her people, neighbors, friends, and
relatives with the good news: “Come, see a man, which told me all
things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the
city, and came unto him” (John 4:29,30). It’s in this context that
later Jesus says to his disciples: “Say not ye, There are yet four
months, and then cometh the harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your
eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest”
(John 4:35). The Samaritans are coming! It’s the day of salvation. The
time for missions has come. Jesus has ushered in the time for sowing and
reaping.

However, we should understand that that was not always
the case. Before this time, before the time of missions, it was a time of
shadows and great darkness. For only a very few, for one small
insignificant nation, one minor race of people, was there any hope. And
even in their midst there was great wickedness and rebellion. In the time
of the Old Testament salvation was limited to the people known as the Jews
or Israelites, and, often, only a remnant among them, as many perished in
their wickedness.

The hope that there was looked to the future, to the
day when the darkness would be dispelled and the promised Messiah would
appear to bring light to the sin-darkened world. Jesus, when he entered
upon his ministry, spoke of this very thing: “The people which sat in
darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach and to
say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt.4:16,17).

With the coming of our Savior, the age of missions
first dawned upon this world that sat in darkness. In order that we may
appreciate and understand the significance and the opportunities of this
age, of this time of missions, we must be aware of the way it was as
compared to the way it is today.

To see how it was we go to Revelation 12: The scene is
Bethlehem. The Christ-child is about to be born. Throughout history Satan,
the dragon, is bent on the destruction of the Christ-child and engulfing
the world in darkness. He camouflaged himself as a serpent in the garden
of Eden. In the book to Esther he assumed the guise of Haman. In Egypt he
worked through Pharaoh who had all of Israel’s male children murdered.
He was the inspiration behind wicked king Ahab and his whore, Jezebel.
From the time of the fall, Satan had been successful in deceiving the
nations. He had made much darkness to spread over the world. And now, once
again, he would seek to destroy the one who was the only hope of a world
lost in the darkness of sin: “and the dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was
born” (Revelation 12:4b).

As we read these words, we remember the wise men of the
east. We see them in the audience-chamber of Herod. Herod speaks: “Go
and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him,
bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also” (Matthew
2:8).

We know that Herod’s intention was to kill the child.
But the wise men, warned of God, returned to their country another way
after they had found and worshipped the Christ-child. Satan refuses to
admit defeat. The infants of Bethlehem and the surrounding area, two years
and under, are brutally murdered (cf. Matt. 2:16). But Herod failed and so
did Satan. The Christ-child was safe with his parents in Egypt. Jesus’
birth in Bethlehem is God’s victory over Satan, the dragon. His life,
his death on the cross, his resurrection, ascension and enthronement at
the right hand of the Father is further victory. John condenses all of
this in Rev. 12:5: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to
rule the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God,
and unto his throne.” We see a reference to Psalm 2:9 where we read,
“Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron.” Here we have the
comforting assurance that Jesus protects His people from the onslaughts of
Satan by applying the rod of iron to her enemies. He is fully in control
of world affairs, gathering His church from all nations, and keeping them
from harm and danger.

What is the effect of this great victory? There is a
battle in heaven: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
And prevailed not; nether was their place found anymore in heaven” (Rev.
12:7,8). We may wonder about war happening in heaven. That is the home of
God and His angels. How can there be war? We learn from the book of Job
that even after his fall from grace, Satan continued to have access to
heaven: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord
said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and
said, From going to and fro in the earth, andfrom walking up and
down in it” (Job. 1:6,7). From Rev. 12:10 we learn that Satan
accuses the elect before God day and night. But that is about to come to
an end. What is the result of this battle? “And that great dragon was
cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast
out with him”(Rev. 12:9,10).

Satan is banished. Expelled. Evicted. God will no
longer tolerate his presence or his accusations. No longer can he go about
deceiving the nations, bringing the accusation that there is no salvation.
No longer is he able to point to the unfinished work of the Savior. Christ’s
atonement has been fully accomplished. The justice of God has been
satisfied. The demands of God’s law have been met. Complete satisfaction
for sin had been rendered when Christ arose victorious over sin, death and
the grave, and ascended to heaven, leading captivity captive (cf. Eph.
4:8). John hears “the loud (triumphant) voice saying in
heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God,
and the power of his Christ . . . and they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb” (Rev. 12:10, 11). And now the ransomed of the Lord can
exultingly say with the apostle Paul: “Who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us”
(Rom. 8:33,34).

Satan, having failed in his many attempts to defeat
Christ, now looks for an easier target and turns his attention to the
church, i.e., the followers of Christ, whom John depicts as a woman: “Woe
to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down
unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast down unto the earth, he
persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child” (Rev. 12:12,
13). But the Lord protects His church which John depicts as a woman who
flees into the desert: “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where
she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a
thousand two hundred and threescore days. And to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her
place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from
the face of the serpent” (Rev. 12:6, 14). The desert is a place
where a person is completely dependent upon God who bore His people as on
eagle’s wings (cf. Ex. 19:4). He provided them with quail; He sustained
them with good health; and their clothes and shoes did not wear out. God
shielded them from the blazing desert sun by covering them with a cloud,
and during the night He kept them warn with a pillar of fire. He protected
them from stings and bites of scorpions and snakes. Thus, in the desert of
affliction, on a long and often difficult pilgrimage, God prepared a place
for His people who were the apple of His eye (cf. Deut. 32:10), and
nourished them with the spiritual manna of His Word. So protected and
provided for, the church resides “away from the face of the serpent,”
i.e., away from Satan’s most direct and deadly attacks. Satan cannot
destroy the church, try as he might. To be sure, he tries to engulf the
church in a stream of lies, false doctrines and teachers, doubts,
persecutions, hypocrites, etc., but the true church is not deceived. This
makes the devil all the more angry and he stalks about as a “roaring
lion, seeking whom he may destroy” (I Pet. 5:8). John Calvin says he
goes about dragging his chains with him. (More about this later.)

Now this period of time during which the church
experiences the attacks of Satan and the special care of God making it
impossible for Satan to prevail and destroy her; this time during which
the people of God are called, gathered and nourished with the manna of the
Word and enjoy a certain degree of tolerance and security on earth during
which her warfare is accomplished, the Lord having prepared a place for
her in the desert; this time is described as “a time, and times, and
half a time.” The same space of time is meant here that is mentioned
in verse 6 and called “a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”
Biblical scholars agree that both expressions refer to a period of three
and a half years. The expression “a time, and times, and half a time”
occurs first in the book to Daniel. There it refers to the period of the
antichrist. John, in his first epistle emphasizes the fact that the
antichrist is in the world already (I John 4:3). Hence, in the book
of Revelation, this period of three years and a half refers to the entire
Gospel age, the millennium, that period during which the church still must
deal with the spirit of the antichrist, but a time when she is nourished “away
from the serpent,” a time when Satan’s influence is curbed,
restrained, i.e., a time during which he is bound.

And so we have arrived at the way it is today, the time
for missions; and the time for missions is the millennium. For
confirmation of this we go to Revelation 20 where we read that an angel
bound the dragon, who is Satan, and threw him into the abyss, where he is
to stay for one thousand years (cf. Rev. 20:2,3). This 1000 years is
called the millennium, which is the Latin word for 1000. With variations,
there are basically three views or positions with regard to this
millennium. The pre-millennial view says that Christ will return just
before (meaning of pre) the 1000 years begin and set up a literal 1000
year reign head-quartered in Jerusalem where He will rule over the
reestablished Jewish nation. The post-millennial view says that Christ
will return after (meaning of post) the 1000 years are finished which they
believe is symbolic of a victorious gospel age. Reformed Christians are
generally neither pre-millennial nor post-millennial in their
understanding of this biblical prophecy. [Editor's Note: Nonetheless,
there are many Christians who identify themselves as being both Reformed
and post-millennial.] They have therefore been called a-millennial.
But this is an unfortunate label. It is a combination of “millennial”
and “a” which means no millennium. It seems to say that those who hold
this view deny the very existence of a millennium. They do not for the
Bible clearly says: “and bound him for a thousand years” (Rev.
20:2). It would be better to say that Reformed Christians believe in the
millennium as a present reality. In that respect they agree with the post-millennialist.

That the millennium is now is also confirmed by Christ
Himself in His dispute with the Pharisees who accuse Him of casting out
demons in the name of Beelzebub or Satan. But “Jesus knew their
thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is
brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself
shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against
himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? . . . But if I cast out devils
by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else
how can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except
he first bind the strong man ? and then he will spoil his house” (Matt.
12:25ff). Satan was the strong man, but Jesus, as the Son of God, had
power over Satan and came to bind him. The 1000 years or millennium began
when Christ came and will last until shortly before He returns at the end
of the world when Satan “must be loosed a little season” (Rev.
20:3).

This view of the millennium as being present with us
now has tremendous meaning for Christian missions. Consider the binding of
Satan and what that means for missions. Satan was bound and thrown into
the abyss “that he should deceive the nations no more” (Rev.
20:3). The book of Revelation was written toward the close of the first
century A.D. when the Gospel had scarcely been preached throughout the
Roman Empire. But here in Revelation we have a prediction of the spread of
the Gospel over the entire earth until all nations shall have been touched
by it. Following the raising of Lazarus and His triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, there was much excitement and curiosity concerning Jesus.
Certain Greeks (Gentiles), who had come to worship at the feast of the
Passover, came to Philip with the request to see Jesus. Philip tells
Andrew, and together they go to Jesus with the request. Here is part of
Jesus’ reply: “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the
prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me” (John 12:31,32). Christ was not a
universalist who taught that all men individually are saved. The “all
men” whom He intended to draw to Himself were men from every tribe
and nation under heaven; not one group would be excluded. And this drawing
of all men is related to the casting out of the prince of this world,
i.e., Satan. This prince must be cast out in order that he may no longer
deceive.

But is it not true that “your adversary, the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour?”
(I Pet. 5:8). Yes, it is true, but lions, as a rule, do not roar as they
stalk their prey out in the wilderness. They roar when they are brought in
cages into the arena, as they were in Peter’s day, in order to kill and
eat Christians for the entertainment of the spectators. These lions, that
Peter and his readers knew, were under the control of the lion trainers.

And Satan is controlled by God, like a dog on a chain
or a lion in a cage. Such are still able to do great harm to those who
enter their domain. But because Satan is controlled by God, the Kingdom of
Christ has grown and can be found in most areas of the earth. It has grown
like the stone in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, seeking to fill the whole
earth (cf. Dan. 2:35). The Church has become truly catholic (universal).
No longer is it only a European institution with a few outposts here and
there. It has gained many converts and has taken root in the soils of
North America, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Satan would never tolerate
this if he had his way.

As Reformed Christians, we should be optimistic
regarding the spread of the Gospel. We ought to be optimistic because our
God reigns and He will cause His Kingdom to come. We ought to be
optimistic because the millennial age in which Satan’s powers are
limited, is now upon us. It is the time of missions. Judgment has been
delayed. It is the time for sowing the seed, for preaching the Word. That
Word is “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” (II
Cor. 10:4).

The teaching in all of this is clear: We must work
while Satan is bound, for the time is coming when he will be “loosed
for a little season.” This is the time when the “man of sin” will
be revealed, the Antichrist (cf. II Thess. 2). It is a period of severe
persecution for the church known as “Satan’s little season,” when
again he will be allowed such power that “except those days should be
shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake
those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24:22). We must be engaged in
spiritual warfare now. This implies an urgency on our part, a burden for
lost souls, which, I’m afraid, is too often lacking. We know and confess
that we are to obey God, and do the work of missions, but the compassion
is missing. We look around us and see all the sin and rebellion, the moral
corruption and decay, and say, “Too bad. They’ll get what’s coming
to them.” While true, such an attitude is not carrying a burden for the
lost. Today is the time for missions. The millennium is now. The
millennium is for missions. We must work now for the time is going to end.

The Church has been given the ministry of
reconciliation through the work of missions. The Church can also be
confident as she carries out this ministry. God, Who does not lie, has
promised that His Word will not return to Him void, but shall accomplish
all that He pleases (cf. Isa.55:11).

The question is: Are you and I, as members of the
Church, faithful in supporting and doing the work of the Church? Are we
taking advantage of the opportunities during this time for missions? Are
we mission-minded as the Church must be? Remember, the millennium is for
missions.

-Rev. Pollema is pastor of the Ebenezer Reformed
Church of Shafter, CA.